An inkjet printing system may include a printhead and an ink supply which supplies liquid ink to the printhead. The printhead ejects ink drops through a plurality of orifices or nozzles and toward a print medium, such as a sheet of paper, so as to print onto the print medium. Typically, the orifices are arranged in one or more arrays such that properly sequenced ejection of ink from the orifices causes characters or other images to be printed upon the print medium as the printhead and the print medium are moved relative to each other.
Use of the inkjet printing system may result in the accumulation of ink and particles, such as dust or paper fibers, on the printhead. To ensure quality print jobs, it is desirable that the accumulated ink and particles be removed from the printhead to prevent the accumulated ink and particles from dropping onto the print medium or obstructing the ejection of ink from the nozzles. In addition, during non-use of the inkjet printing system, the nozzles are exposed to air which, consequently, may cause the ink to dry out and clog the nozzles.
In order to ensure quality print jobs it would be desirable to service and maintain the printhead to avoid the aforementioned problems.